Infirmary
by Squeeb100
Summary: When Patty is forced to stay at home when the rest of the team goes on a mission, she seeks out company in the school infirmary. Crona has always been afraid, but he never saw that fear as a good thing until Patty showed up to chase it away. "We've never really talked before, but I really like you. I think." "Let me tell you a story, something that Liz told me when we were alone."


**This is just a cute little oneshot because I thought of the idea and was like, "Uh huh. Yes. Just so strange it might work."**

**Seriously this is really quite odd. It's especially weird because I usually write really depressing and disturbing stuff and then I have like the three stories that are just adorable.**

**Enjoy, and please review!**

* * *

Fear was something that had haunted him his entire life, and no matter what he did to ease it, it only added new guilt and fear.

He didn't help himself at all, either, constantly questioning himself and doubting his actions.

His mind was full of "what-if's."

He had always been told that fear was wrong, and that it needed to be changed. But that scared him more. He would be punished for being afraid, and he was afraid of being punished.

So, even in the infirmary, safe from abuse, he was afraid, because that was what was hardwired into his system. He had done something wrong, and that was all he thought about. I was wrong, and I added some evil to the world. I will be punished. I will be hurt for this.

But that was all he knew.

So that was what he was forced to be satisfied with.

* * *

A gentle knock sounded at the door.

"Patty?"

"Go away!"

"Patty, let me in." Kid's exasperated voice was muffled by the door.

"No, you can't come in."

"Why not?"

"Uh...I'm...It isn't symmetrical in here! No boys allowed! Ah...only one of my arms has a cast and I don't want you to break the other one!"

"Patricia, please. I would like to say goodbye to you before we leave. I don't know how long we'll be gone, and I'm going to miss you. Really, really miss you..." he trailed off, and Patty could tell that he was thinking about all of the problems he would face with having only one weapon. He cleared his throat. "Anyhow, please open the door."

Sighing, Patty shoved her feet into her giraffe slippers and shuffled over to the door of her room, unlocking it. "Hiya, Kiddo," she said in a less-than-chipper tone of voice.

"Hey, Patty," Kid smiled sadly.

"I'm going to miss you too," she muttered, then suddenly looked up with tears building in her eyes. "I-I don't know what to do without you two here! You're my family! And all of my friends are-are leaving, and-" she threw herself at Kid, muffling her voice in his striped suit. "I'll be all alone!" she finished in a drawn-out sob.

Kid patted her back awkwardly, unsure of what he should do. "Don't cry, Patty. We're not leaving you because we want to, and besides, we'll only be away a few days. It's just a mission!"

"Yeah, a mission that _I _can't go on, because the stupid Kishin broke my stupid arm," she muttered, pulling away. There was still a sad little knot inside her chest, but at least her tears had stopped flowing. She tried to smile a little so that Kiddo wouldn't worry.

Kid lifted her chin with one finger. "Now that's better. I can't stand to see you unhappy. You're much cuter like this, don't you think?"

Patty sniffled. "Yeah."

"Did Liz say goodbye already?"

"Yeah. Before you came in. I was already sad from her. It's just so dumb that I'm the only one who can't go! Why did everyone else get better already?"

"Broken bones can take a while to heal," Kid explained, tapping her yellow cast. "Black*Star wasn't totally better either, but no one could stop him from coming. You know how stubborn he is."

"Mh."

"And Crona's still stuck in the infirmary, so not everyone is better. You just need to be patient. You'll be spunky as ever soon as you know it, Patty, but for now you should just rest. And remember that Stein has painkillers if you need them."

"Okay," she moaned.

"See you in a few days," Kid said, waving as he turned to walk down the stairs.

"Bye-ah, Kiddo!" Patty called.

"Don't forget to eat," her meister called as he walked out the door.

"I won't."

"Don't eat just cookie dough either."

"There's also ice cream!"

"Don't mess up the mansion while I'm gone!"

"I'll try not to!"

"Don't set anything on fire!"

"No promises!"

"Don't-"

"Just go already, Kiddo!" Patty yelled.

"Bye, Patty," called Liz.

"Bye, Sis! Bring me back a giraffe!"

Patty heard the sound of the door closing, and knew that her family was gone.

At first it was lonely.

But then she realized.

That she could do whatever she wanted. And no one would yell at her.

So she scooted a picture frame over (the daredevil) and ate an entire tub of ice cream. She tried on some of Kid's clothes, which were way too tight in the chest, and some of Liz's clothes, which were too tight in the chest and too big for her otherwise. Patty laughed at her reflection and realized that she had a better body than her big sis.

But as the day dragged on, things got a bit more boring. She even resorted to doing homework, but gave up when she realized that she didn't know what anything meant. She used her left hand to draw a giraffe for Kiddo and a giraffe for Liz, and then drew two giraffes kissing and labeled them Kid and Liz. She giggled, but then flopped over onto her bed to stare at the ceiling.

"I'm booreedddd," she called out to the empty mansion. "And my arm hurts." Then she remembered Stein. He had medicine for when her arm hurt; she remembered that he gave it to her sometimes if she asked nicely. "Maybe I'll go see Professor Stein," she said to herself. Her arm didn't really hurt all that badly, but it was an excuse to go somewhere and see someone. Ignoring the heavy cast weighing her down, Patty skipped out of the mansion, not bothering to lock it (what idiot would ever sneak into a shinigami's mansion anyway?), and through the streets toward the center of town.

* * *

"Hello? Professor?" Patty called as she banged on the metal door to the patchwork lab. "Anyone home?"

"Coming."

To the girl's surprise, it was not Stein that answered, but Marie.

"Oh, hi Mrs. Marie! How's your baby doing?" Patty leaned over to examine the woman's belly. The teacher giggled at the bubbly girl's antics.

"Great, Patty. Thanks for asking. What are you doing here? It's a Sunday."

"I know. I was looking for Professor Stein. Is he here?" Patty straightened up and grinned.

"Oh, no, sweetie. Sorry, you just missed him! He headed out to the school to help Mira in the infirmary. There are a lot of students in there right now after the battle with Arachnophobia."

"Oh, okay! Thanks anyway. Imma go see him now, okay? I need arm medicine." With that, Patty turned on her heel and skipped away.

"Wait! Patty, do you want tea or anything like that? Cookies? Uh, Patty? Arm medicine? I have painkillers if you want-" Marie called after the girl, puzzled, then shrugged, closing the door.

* * *

Patty skipped around the corner and down the hall where the injured and sick students stayed, sliding to a halt at Stein's office. "Professor?" she asked.

"Ah, hello, Patty," Stein replied, looking up from some paperwork on his desk. Success at last. "Do you need something?"

"Yeah. Arm medicine. Also, I'm lonely. All my friends left," Patty explained.

"Okay," Stein smiled, sliding a drawer open and fishing a bottle of pills out of it. "Here you go," he said, shaking a couple blue pills out and offering them to her.

"Thanks!" Patty grinned, dry-swallowing the medicine.

"So, anything else?" Stein asked after a moment of awkward silence.

"Marie is very pregnant," Patty commented. "Good job."

"Uh...thanks," Stein raised an eyebrow.

"Do you know what kind of baby you're having?"

"What...what _kind?_"

"Yeah, a boy or a girl?"

"A girl...uh, Patty, do you need something?"

"I'm lonely."

"Okay..."

"Can I stay here?"

"I don't see why not, as long as you stay out of the way," the scientist replied, then returned to his work, turning his screw in thought.

"Your screw is clicky. I like it," Patty complimented after a while, breaking the silence. "How did you get it? Have you always had it? Can I touch it?"

"No. Patty, do you need something to do?"

"Can I go see Crona?" she asked, remembering that someone she knew was here.

"No."

"Please?"

"No. Be quiet." Stein went back to his work, not noticing as Patty crept over to hang over his shoulder. He was writing in tiny print on files for different students.

"Whatcha' doin'?" Patty asked, stepping back in surprise as Stein jumped, startled, and toppled over, legs straight up in the air. She whistled, leaning over him. "Your chair sure is slidey," she remarked.

Stein clenched his teeth. "Patty."

"Yeah?"

"Please leave."

"Can I go see Crona?"

Stein paused in the process of climbing to his feet. "Sure. Fine. Just leave me be, I'm busy. And don't freak him out."

"Yay! Thanks!" Patty trotted out into the hall.

She knew where Crona's room was situated from past visits, so it only took her a moment to find it. She knocked on the door loudly and pressed her ear up against it.

"Uh...yeah?" a nervous voice came through the door.

"Hi, Crona! It's me, Patty!"

"Hi?"

"Could I come in, please?" Patty asked, fully prepared to enter no matter what the boy's reply was.

"I guess."

"Yay!" Patty squealed, bursting in through the door. She paused and closed it quietly in a moment of realization; however, she hadn't startled Crona, as she had expected that she would. He wasn't even looking at her. He was sitting up in bed, staring out the window as if caught in a trance. Patty walked over to the side of the bed opposite the door and stood in front of the window.

"Hi there," she called, bending over and waving.

"H-hi. Could you...back up, please, maybe?" Crona asked, eyes crossed in an attempt to focus on Patty, whose nose was nearly touching his own at this point. Patty nodded vigorously, causing the pinkette to shrink back, and twirled over to a chair in the corner. She sat and scooted loudly across the tile floor until she was next to the bed.

"So," she began cheerfully, head tilted as she looked intensely at Crona. "How's it going?"

"Uh, good, I guess, maybe," he replied, eyes darting everywhere but right at Patty. "Y-you?"

"Pretty good. I'm bored. I still have this stupid cast, so I can't really do that much. It sucks that everyone left without us – I don't have anyone to talk to!" Patty sighed, gesticulating wildly as she explained her dilemma.

"Yeah, I've been kind of lonely, too," Crona told her, his gaze coming to rest on the window again.

"Bored. Ha! You're not bored," Ragnarok sneered as he appeared from Crona's back, causing the small boy to wince. "You've got me!"

"Yeah, and I told you...it hurts when you do that!" Crona gritted his teeth.

"Do what?"

"Come out like that! It especially hurts right now!"

"You're fine, you baby," Ragnarok replied.

"Oh, yeah," Patty remembered. "I was going to ask you how you were feeling! It's been a little while, huh? Are you healing up?"

"Yeah, I'm a lot better, just a little sore now," Crona looked pointedly over his shoulder at Ragnarok. "Mrs. Nygus says I can leave in a couple days. I don't really know what will happen then..."

"That's great! You'll be out of this boring old place!"

"I guess..."

"What's wrong?" Patty tilted her head.

"I'm a little nervous about what's going to happen," Crona admitted, looking down at his hands, which were bunched up nervously in the sheets.

"What do you mean?"

"He means," Ragnarok explained snidely, "that he's scared. He figures that he did so much crap for Medusa that it ain't goanna be pretty. And I agree with him, he's goanna get it for sure." Crona winced and tightened his grip on the sheets, confirming that this was indeed his fear.

"What? No!" Patty said, shocked. "No one's mad at you! You were brave enough to go after Medusa, and you know that you did bad things, but I've heard over and over the story of how you saved Maka. You're a hero!"

"R-really?" Crona seemed surprised.

"Yeah, are you kidding?" Patty asked, equally surprised. He really was concerned about this!

"I-I caused the same problems that I fixed, though, so...I didn't do anything so special..."

"You're the bravest person I've ever met," Patty said, honesty in every word as she bent over and twisted around to try to look Crona in the eyes. He turned to avoid her gaze once again.

"Then you need to get out more," Ragnarok remarked. "Crona's just about the biggest coward ever."

"No," Patty insisted.

"He's right, you know," Crona argued. "I'm scared of everything."

"And that's exactly what makes you the bravest."

"Huh?"

"Let me tell you a story," Patty commanded.

"Oh, goodie," Ragnarok said, his voice laced with sarcasm. Patty glared at him and he actually shrunk away from her venomous gaze.

"Okay. Storytime," Patty resumed, suddenly adopting a more serious air. "When I was out on the streets of New York with Liz, I was really young. Kid found us a few years ago, and I'm still a lot younger than the rest of you guys...I think, so I was little. At first I was really scared. I missed Mommy and Daddy and I was really confused. I just wanted to curl up and hide."

Patty paused, and Crona nodded for her to continue.

"So one night, Liz told me about something that some old guy said a long time ago. And she said that he said courage is not how brave you are...wait, no, that isn't it. Courage isn't not having no fear? Something about how courage doesn't mean that you aren't afraid, but that you know how to deal with that fear. That you do something even though you're afraid. And the more scared you are, and the harder you work to get through it, well...the braver you are," she finished softly.

Crona finally looked Patty in the eyes, looking somewhat in awe of her tale.

"And then I wasn't afraid anymore," Patty continued more strongly, back in her usual spirits. "After that I was mean mean mean, like a jumping bean, and that's how I survived until Kid came!"

"I was always told the opposite," Crona said. "Lady Medusa would always go on about how I was useless with my fear, and how I needed to let go of it and be fearless in order to win. But I never could do it, so...I always messed up and ended up getting punished."

"That's stupid," Patty said.

"What?"

"It's stupid!"

"You're stupid," Ragnarok interjected, having overcome his fear of Patty.

The girl ignored him. "No one should be punished for being who they are, because that's dumb. I'm proud of myself, and I'm proud of you," she announced, puffing her chest out, "And I really really think that Medusa's just stupid."

"Um...okay?" Crona replied hesitantly.

"Okay," Patty said with resolution, breaking through her serious facade with a blinding smile.

Crona smiled back gently.

"This is nice," he said after a moment.

"What is?"

"Talking to you like this. We've never really talked before, but I really like you. I think."

"Well, I like you too," Patty grinned. "And I think we should be better friends from now on, and I'll come visit you every day, and when you get out of here, you can come visit me! And I'll introduce you to my twenty-four giraffe plushies, and all of Kid's symmetrical interior design! Also, we can play hide and seek in the mansion – there's lots of little hiding places in that place! It'll be so fun!"

"Y-yeah!" Crona replied, a bit overwhelmed at the thought, yet touched at the same time.

"Oh, please," Ragnarok rolled his eyes. "You guys are like little kids."

"I have ice cream," Patty bribed in a singsong voice.

"I agree completely, you should be best friends now," Ragnarok amended quickly, causing both Crona and Patty to laugh.

"Patty!" Stein's voice came from the hallway. "Telephone for you!"

"Sorry Crona, just a sec," Patty excused herself, pushing the chair back into the corner and skipping out into the hall. "Who is it?" she asked the scientist.

"Kid and Liz," Stein told her, handing her the receiver.

"Patty! Hello? Are you alive? Is the house still standing? Is my symmetry alright?" Kid's voice came rushing through the line as soon as Patty put the phone up to her ear, and she had to hold it several feet from her head to preserve her hearing.

"I'm sure she's fine, Kid," Liz said drily. "We've only been gone for five hours. She can't have done that much damage."

"You don't know what she could have done, Liz! That girl is a weapon of mass destruction!"

"Hi, Patty! How are you doing? Did you eat well? How's your arm?"

"I'm great, Liz!" Patty replied. "And Kid, everything's fine. I just scooted one little painting over for you..."

"Patty, NO! How could you?! _How could you do such a thing_? With me all the way across the world?" Kid sounded distraught. "The symmetry is messed up and it will bother me until I return tomorrow!"

"You guys are coming back tomorrow?" Patty cut her meister off.

"Yeah," Liz said. "Is that okay?"

"Yeah," Patty replied.

"So what have you been up to?" Kid asked. "You know, besides destroying the mansion."

"Oh, I just drew some pictures, and then I ate some...lunch, and I visited Mrs. Marie!"

"Oh no, you didn't bother her, did you?" Liz asked nervously.

"Nope, I just asked where Stein was and complimented her on how pregnant she was. Then I want to get some arm medicine from Stein-"

"Did you bother _him_?" Kid asked anxiously.

"Nope, he's fine. And then I went to see Crona, because I was lonely. And we talked a lot and it was fun. I like him. He's cute. And then you called me and interrupted, so here I am!"

"Well, we'll let you get back to your business, then," Kid said. "Goodbye, Patty."

"Bye, Kid!"

"Bye, Patty!"

"Bye, Sis!"

* * *

Crona, back in his room, smiled to himself.

Courage is not the absence of fear.

It is doing what needs to be done in spite of your fear.

Patty had sparked hope in him, and for once, he wasn't afraid at all. He didn't doubt the fact that he would receive some form of punishment for his wrongdoings, but he knew that he had also added something good to the world.

And that simple fact was enough.

* * *

**Sorry if it was a little fast-paced. Goodness, I've been writing a TON recently. I'm glad, because it gives me a chance to expand my skill. Soul Eater fanfiction is super fun to write, too, because the characters are so over-the-top and fun.**

**Tell me how you liked it!**

**Thanks for reading,**

**-Squeeb100**


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